It just occurred to me that most folks want a very fast (read: very stiff) rod these days. It also occurred to me that most everyone I see these days is slingin' lead (okay, titanium or whatever). So now I am thinking the two probably go together.
So does anyone remember how to cast like Brad Pitt?

The shadow cast in RRTI could not be made with a bamboo rod. Jason broke two bamboo rods in the attempt, and the cast was finally performed with a "faster" composite fly rod. It was not a super fast rod, to be sure, but it is the caster and not the rod.

Although I often cast multiple nymph rigs and love it and the results, I can't say that I've ever moved away from traditional casting if that is what you're referring to. I find myself presenting dry flies often during the season which requires skill in casting, shooting line, double-hauling, distance, close-up work and delicate presentation. I'm not quite sure where you've deduced that most fly fishing is about stiffer rods and slinging lead? That's part of it, but I don't see where we've moved even slightly away from the beauty of fly casting. And, there is nothing wrong with the stiffer rods, in fact they cast a line quite efficiently, but they're not for everyone. I prefer the moderate-fast action of my old Sage RPL, and the smoothness of a good bamboo rod is just different and will also not appeal to all anglers. I think it's about what works for you.

Kelly

P.S.: Brad Pitt can't cast and never could Now, Jason Borger, on the other hand, he's a class act and learned well from his father.

The beautiful thing to me, about fly fishing, is the breadth of applications, and near endless variety.
Whether hucking a size 20 dry on an overhead cast to a gulper, way...over there.
Or dredging a brown, big enough to ride from raging deep water on a weighted golden stone, or dapping a hopper two feet away to a brook, it's all good.
I have stood on a rock and cast, but generally, it spooks fish.
Always remember, there is a difference between looking good (Hollywood), and catching fish......
Over the years, I've discovered that less casting = more fish.
But a line is pretty in the air...

I remember how it looked while watching the movie but I think very few people in this world could ever cast like that much less remember how to do it.

As for the trend towards fast rods, I noticed that but I think it was largely a fad for a while for people other than salt water and big, windy river fly fishers.
Most every manufacturer has products ranging from soft fiberglass rods to rocket launchers with many choices in between. It's not hard at all to find a rod with the exact action you require.
Since I tend to go with the lightest tippet I can get away with, it's important that my rods offer softer tips yet all sorts of reserve power when I do need to blast a cast out there.
It's nice to be a fly fisher nowadays when rods can be found that serve far more than one single type of action.
Other than the price on premium rods I have no complaints about what manufacturers have to offer theses days at all.

Probably what got me started on this line of thinking was going fishing with a relative newbie last month.
He put an indicator on that was actually larger than the pencil floats I used to use to fish for 'gills with crickets! Then a nymph or two with split shot and he would sling the whole thing upstream and let it drift on down below him until the line was tight and then sling the whole thing back upstream.
Who is it that is teaching these people that this is the way fly fishing is done?
This is about the only way fly fishing seems to be practiced any more in the tailwaters I fish here in Colorado.

I'm relatively new to fly fishing, in that I've only had my rod since either the end of August or the beginning of September. I have certainly dove right in and fished as much as I can and learned as much as I can, but I'm still definitely new. The indicator fishing as you describe is certainly popular, but yes, to some, it is not fly fishing. There's weight attached, the casting is of the sustained anchor variety rather than the nice aerial loop and cast (but so is spey casting?), and the indicator, which I presume was a thingamabobber or something similar, appears to be quite large. I've ran this set-up in my two months of fishing with (Heaven forbid) an egg pattern suspended under said terminal tackle. However, I have also dead-drifted stone flys with no weight besides the beadhead(s) of the fly itself and swung streamers in the current. For me, fly fishing is not about how much weight is attached to your leader, the presence/absence or size of your indicator, or the fly attached to the end of your tippet. It is about the fact that you're holding (and potentially even casting) a fly rod, your line is spooled on a fly reel, and the thing tied on to your tippet is made of fur, feathers, and a hook. It's certainly not spin-fishing, something you certainly realize once you get a fish on the reel, if you hadn't already realized it in getting your fly to your target. Whether I'm fishing an egg pattern under an indicator, swinging some obnoxious articulated streamer, or stripping a wooly bugger, it's fly fishing to me, and I absolutely love it.

I have written a rather long essay regarding this very topic and IF you PM to me requesting a copy to read I will send one to you. The document is too lengthly to fit on the forum or into a PM so Please include your e-mail address with your message and I will send copy in the form of a Word attachment.